Bavarian baker opens pretzel shop in Bolton

Helen Gilbert
· 19 June, 2018

A self-taught artisan baker has opened a bakery in Greater Manchester after spotting a gap in the market for Bavarian baked goods including homemade pretzels.

Angelika Searle unveiled Pretzel and Spelt in Crompton Way, Bolton last week, after her kitchen became too small to cater for the demand of her hand-created pretzels, which are sold in traditional flavours as well as filled formats.

“Last autumn I had enquiries from people asking if we could give a price for 2,000 pretzels,” Searle, told British Baker. “I could only make 60 on my kitchen table. We just can’t get hold of them in the UK, the majority of proper pretzels are imported from Germany frozen.”

Searle sells the knot-shaped snacks topped with seeds including sesame, poppy sunflower and pumpkin, as well in a plain variant for £1.10/90g.

Filled versions including chilli con carne, cheese and bacon and cheese are also available priced from £2, alongside traditional Bavarian bakes including strudels such as apple, spinach & feta and salmon & spinach.

Bavarian-born Searle, a trained occupational therapist who moved to the UK 12 years ago with her husband Alaric, started the business in 2015 during her time as a stay-at-home mum.

She initially produced Christmas baked goods for local artisan markets and, in the same year, won a Guild of Fine Food Great Taste Award for her Bavarian Black Bun.

The business owner, who was taught to bake by her mother, said she was regularly contacted by Christmas markets and Oktoberfest and hoped to produce as many as 4,000 pretzels a day from her shop to cater for both the wholesale and retail markets.​

“Pretzels are such a basic and iconic thing,” Searle – whose maiden name Dinkel translates to spelt – added. "They have a 1,300-year-old history and were first developed from bagel-type bread before ending up pretzel-shaped.”